Brewster, N.Y. – 4/21/2013 – State Senator Greg Ball (R, C, I – Patterson) is happy to announce that the Putnam County Rules Committee voted to revise the recently enacted Putnam County “Item Pricing” law. The proposed amendment will be placed before the full Putnam County Legislature in May. The committee expects to begin implementation as early as June.

In February, Senator Ball wrote a letter to oppose a recent Putnam County amended local law chapter 173 entitled ‘Item pricing’. The law required a wavier fee schedule for retailers and resulted in up to a $15,000 increase in fees for local businesses per year. In the letter, Ball called for the county to reconsider its actions and review the new item pricing schedule to make it business friendly.

On Tuesday night the Putnam County Legislature revised the item pricing fee to make it much more business friendly. The fee schedule will cover a two year period, reduce fees by over 50% and will also eliminate the requirement to have a price look-up scanner which prints self-adhesive labels.

“I would like to thank the Putnam County Rules Committee for voting to revise this tax. I am cautiously optimistic that the full legislature will vote to approve this revision and that Putnam County can continue to work with our local businesses in the future,” said Senator Greg Ball. “We must proactively work with all of our local businesses to ensure that Putnam County can create jobs and stay open for business.”

Original waiver fee (due every year).

Square Footage

Original Waiver Fee

Under 3,000 sq. ft.

$750.00

3,001 to 10,000 sq. ft.

$1,500.00

10,001 to 30,000 sq. ft.

$4,500.00

30,001 to 60,000 sq. ft.

$6,500.00

Over 90,000 sq. ft.

$15,000.00

Revised waiver fee (due every 2 years).

Square Footage

Revised Waiver Fee

Under 3,000 sq. ft.

$500.00

3,001 to 10,000 sq. ft.

$1,500.00

10,001 to 30,000 sq. ft.

$3,000.00

30,001 to 60,000 sq. ft.

$6,000.00

60,001 to 90,000 sq. ft.

$10,000.00

Over 90,000 sq. ft.

$13,500.00

“I would like to thank Senator Ball for his tireless work on this. This tax would have been a lose – lose for both sides and would have forced retailers to look over the border to Connecticut,” said Mitch Klein, the Chairman of the Food Industry Alliance of New York. “This revised schedule is fair to businesses and will allow us to continue to operate in Putnam County.”

“We are very happy that Putnam County has revisited this law to revise the fee schedule for local businesses,” said Michael Rosen Sr. Vice President & General Counsel Food Industry Alliance of NYS. “Many thanks to A&P, Hannaford, Shop Rite and especially Mitch Klein for speaking out against the old law. We also thank our colleague Ted Potrikus from the Retail Council, Senator Greg Ball and Jennifer Maher from the Putnam Chamber for fighting with us.”

“The original law wasn’t as much protecting consumers it was about raising revenue. Fees like that do nothing except raise prices for every shopper in the County,” said Retail Council of New York State EVP Ted Potrikus. “This new retailer fee is will allow store owners all across the county to continue to do business here and create jobs.”

“I would like to thank Senator Ball in joining myself and other legislators for being instrumental in bringing together all of the stake holders,” said Putnam County Legislator Dini LoBue. “This resulted in a dramatically reduced fee schedule there by retaining jobs in Putnam County.”

For more information, please contact Joe Bachmeier at (845) 200 9716.

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About Greg Ball

Assemblyman Greg Ball (R, C, I – Patterson) is the Senator for New York State's 40th district. A former Vice President of Exceed International Development Corporation, Ball holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the United States Air Force Academy, is currently completing his Masters Thesis of Liberal Studies in International Affairs at Georgetown University, and received an honorable discharge in 2005 at the rank of Captain after service as an active duty officer in the United States Air Force.
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